Al-Sadr boycotts Iraq Govt over Bush meeting
Middle East Desk Report

BAGHDAD (Iraq)—Lawmakers and cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have suspended participation in parliament and the government to protest Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.
A statement issued Wednesday by the 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers said their action was necessary because the meeting constituted a “provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of their constitutional rights.” The statement did not explain that claim.
Al-Maliki and Bush are meeting in Amman, the Jordanian capital, Wednesday and Thursday looking for ways to end the violence in Iraq. Meanwhile, fierce fighting on Wednesday between coalition forces and insurgents shut down the city of Baqouba, which has been roiled by violence in recent days, killing scores of militants and civilians.
Suspected insurgents attacked the police headquarters in downtown Baqouba, sparking a clash with police that left five of the attackers dead, police said on condition of anonymity, as they regularly do to protect themselves.
Coalition forces backed by U.S. aircraft also killed eight al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents during a raid near the city that also left two Iraqi women dead, the U.S. military said. The early morning attack was aimed at detaining Iraqis who were running a known cell of insurgents, the U.S. command said. The soldiers called in air support after coming under heavy fire from rifles and machine guns, the command said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived Wednesday in Jordan, meanwhile, for a meeting with President Bush aimed at halting escalating sectarian violence and paving the way for a reduction of U.S. troops. In Baqouba, capital of Diyala province about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, the university, public schools and many stores remained closed, and the city’s streets were mostly empty, except for a few people who dashed out to small fruit or vegetable stalls to stock up on food. In a city with a crumbling infrastructure, few residents had electricity and most only received limited water supplies. Many Shiites and Sunnis have fled neighborhoods where they live in a minority, seeking refuge with relatives in nearby provinces or, if they have the money, in neighboring Jordan and Syria. Widespread fighting has raged in the area for several days. On Tuesday, Diyala police said they found 11 bullet-riddled bodies around Baqouba.
Gunfire crackled for most of the morning around Baghdad’s Green Zone, the site of U.S. and Iraqi government offices. A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday morning near a police patrol in a commercial center of the capital, killing three civilians and wounding 11 Iraqis, including two policeman and three children, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid. In all, 13 insurgents, six policemen, and six civilians had been killed in fighting across Iraq by mid-afternoon, police and U.S. officials said.